Illuminated book support

ABSTRACT

An adjustable support apparatus to hold books or other reading matter in position so as to enable lying or seated individuals to read. The apparatus consists of a transparent plate, preferably of acrylic plastic, which is supported by an adjustable arm attached either to the bed head board or to a portable stand. Shielded tubular light bulbs on each side of the transparent plate may be rotated so as to cast light from either below the plate, or to a position above the plate so that the reading matter may be illuminated for reading from below, or from above the support level.

United States Patent 1191 Stem [4 1 Feb.5,1974

[ ILLUMINATED BOOK SUPPORT Primary Examiner-Richard L. Moses Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Howard I. Podell [5 7] ABSTRACT An adjustable support apparatus to hold books or other reading matter in position so as to enable lying or seated individuals to read. The apparatus consists of a transparent plate, preferably of acrylic plastic, which is supported by an adjustable arm attached either to the bed head board or to a portable stand. Shielded tubular light bulbs on each side of the transparent plate may be rotated so as to cast light from either below the plate, or to a position above the plate so that the reading matter may be illuminated for reading from below, or from above the support level.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 2,358,203 9/1944 Best.... 240/1151. 2,193,907 3 1940 Love .248/445 2,136,701 11/1938 Manierre ..248/445 ILLUMINATED BOOK SUPPORT SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

The purpose of my invention is to enable reading matter to be supported in a fashion that will permit lying or seated patients to read, without requiring any use of their limbs to support the reading matter.

My invention is an apparatus for supporting reading matter on a transparent plate which is illuminated by shielded tubular light bulbs from either below the transparent plate, or from above the transparent plate, or any intermediate position of said light bulbs.

The invention may be in the form of an adjustable device which is fastened to the bed headboard, primarily for viewing from below, or it may be fixed to a portable stand, so as to be viewed from either below or above the support level.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING:

The objects and features of my invention may be further understood with reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is a perspective illustration of the device fastened to a bed headboard;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the device fastened to a portable stand;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of a preferred means of fastening the transparent support member to the supporting arm of the device;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the adjustable joint of the supporting arm;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the mechanism that adjusts the light tubes; and

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of an alternate adjustable supporting arm for the device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:

Turning now descriptively to the drawing, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, the reading matter support apparatus 10 is shown fastened to the headboard 39 of bed 40 by support arm 34 which fastens to the bed headboard 39 by clamp 38, as shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, support arm 34 is joined to support arm 32 which is fastened to reading matter support 11 by bracket 30. Bracket 30 may be fastened to the edge of reading matter support 11, or as shown in FIG. 3 bracket 30 may be of U- shaped cross-section fitting over the top and bottom surfaces of reading matter support 11 and affixed to it by fasteners 31.

Support joint 60 as shown in FIG. 4 consists of two facing corrugated surfaced members 35 and 36, fixed to support arm 34 and 32 respectively, with thumb screw 37 serving to tighten the corrugated surfaces of members 35 and 36 together so as to fix any desired angle between support arms 32 and 34.

Reading matter support surface 11 is a transparent plate, preferably a plate of polycarbonate or acrylic plastic or a pane of glass, and is fitted with a retainer bracket 13 to hold the reading matter from sliding off of the transparent support surface 11. Shielded lamp units 12 are mounted on each side of the support surface ll so as to cast light upwards through the transparent surface 11 to the reading matter or book 61 which is lying face down on the transparent support surface 1 l An alternate embodiment 20 shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 is mounted on portable stand 62. Forked legs 21 of stand 62, are mounted on rollers 22 so that offset vertical arm 29 may be rolled to the side of a bed or a chair. Vertical tube 24 slides over vertical arm 29, and is fastened in position by thumb screw 23. Tube 24 contains longitudinal slots 25 through most of its length to permitthumbscrew 41 to be fastened over the desirable height range. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6, the reading support surface 111 and shielded side lamp units 50 are fastened to vertical tube 24 by flange 45. Flange 45 contains facing corrugated surfaces mating with the facing corrugated surfaces of member 44 which is fastened to clamp 43. The thumbscrew 41 is fitted with bearing spacer bracket 64 which rests against clamp 42 such that tightening of thumb screw 41 will fix clamp members 42 and 43 about tube 24 and simultaneously set reading surface 11 at any desirable angle by compressing the facing corrugated surfaces of members 44 and 45 together.

As shown in FIG. 5, light bulb 55 is fixed on arm 57 to shaft 56. Shaft 56 is rotated by handle arm 51, and located angularly in position by pin 52. Pin 52 is held by spring 53 in any one of holes 54 so as to hold light bulb 55 at any desired angle, from directly below reading support surface 11 to directly above reading support surface 11 to directly above reading support surface 11.

In this fashion, a book may be placed face upwards on the reading support surface to be read and illuminated from above, or placed face downwards so as to be read and illuminated from below.

A retainer bracket 13 is fastened on the lower vertical edge of transparent support member ll, being fastened through L shaped slots in said retainer bracket to the edge of transparent support member 11 by means of fasteners 66. The retainer bracket 13 may be slid about fasteners 66 as permitted by the L shaped slots 65, to rest in either a lower or a higher position, being shown in the higher position in FIG. 2.

Since obvious changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention described herein without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, it is indicated that all matter contained herein is intended to be interpreted in an illustrative sense and not a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A support apparatus for the purpose of holding books or other reading matter in a position to be illuminated so as to be read by a person without using his limbs to support the reading matter, consisting of a transparent support member affixed by a jointed support arm with attachment means for fastening to a vertical support member, such as a bed headboard or a portable stand, with a shielded light source fixed to a side of said transparent support member'so as to illuminate material resting on the transparent support member in order that such reading material may be viewed from either above or below the transparent support member, as desired, in which the shielded light source may be rotated from below the transparent support member,

to above the transparent support member, so as to illuminate material resting on the transparent support member from below, or from above the transparent support member, said light source being pivotably mounted in a shielded housing to one side of 5 the transparent support member, with the axis of the pivot of the mounting of the light source being parallel to the fastened side of the transparent support member, together with stop means to fix the light source mounting in a given position with relation to the transparent support member.

2. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which two light sources are employed, each pivotably mounted in shielded housings fixed on opposing sides of the transparent support member.

3. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which the light source mounting is enclosed in a fixed shield that extends above, to the side of, and below the transparent support member, together with handle means fastened to the light source mounting and extending through the fixed housing to beyond the exterior of the housing.

4. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the transparent support member is a sheet of acrylic plastic.

5. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the transparent support member is a sheet of polycarbonate plastic.

6. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the transparent support member is a pane of glass.

7. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the light source is of tubular construction.

8. The combination recited in claim 7 in which the shielded light source is fixed to two opposing sides of the transparent support member. 

1. A support apparatus for the purpose of holding books or other reading matter in a position to be illuminated so as to be read by a person without using his limbs to support the reading matter, consisting of a transparent support member affixed by a jointed support arm with attachment means for fastening to a vertical support member, such as a bed headboard or a portable stand, with a shielded light source fixed to a side of said transparent support member so as to illuminate material resting on the transparent support member in order that such reading material may be viewed from either above or below the transparent support member, as desired, in which the shielded light source may be rotated from below the transparent support member, to above the transparent support member, so as to illuminate material resting on the transparent support member from below, or from above the transparent support member, said light source being pivotably mounted in a shielded housing to one side of the transparent support member, with the axis of the pivot of the mounting of the light source being parallel to the fastened side of the transparent support member, together with stop means to fix the light source mounting in a given position with relation to the transparent support member.
 2. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which two light sources are employed, each pivotably mounted in shielded housings fixed on opposing sides of the transparent support member.
 3. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which the light source mounting is enclosed in a fixed shield that extends above, to the side of, and below the transparent support member, together with handle means fastened to the light source mounting and extending through the fixed housing to beyond the exterior of the housing.
 4. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the transparent support member is a sheet of acrylic plastic.
 5. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the transparent support member is a sheet of polycarbonate plastic.
 6. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the transparent support member is a pane of glass.
 7. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the light source is of tubular construction.
 8. The combination recited in claim 7 in which the shielded light source is fixed to two opposing sides of the transparent support member. 